Duffy slams Defense Department over recent DCA incident: ‘No more helicopter rides for VIPs’
by Ashleigh Fields - 05/03/25 3:14 PM ET
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy slammed the Defense Department on Friday after an Army helicopter forced two commercial passenger jets landing at Reagan National Airport to shift course.
On Thursday, air traffic control instructed a Delta Airlines flight and Republic Airways plane to perform go-arounds due to a “Priority Air Transport helicopter inbound to the Pentagon Army Heliport,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Multiple outlets reported on Friday that an army helicopter taking a “scenic route” near the airport caused the incident.
“Unacceptable. Our helicopter restrictions around DCA are crystal clear. In addition to investigations from @NTSB and @FAANews, I’ll be talking to the @DeptofDefense to ask why the hell our rules were disregarded.,” Duffy wrote in a post on the social media platform X.
Helicopter operations near the airport were restricted in March after a deadly collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger plane killed 67 people in January.
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https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/5281230-duffy-defense-department-dca-helicopter-incident/
